I saved my Grandma's recipes and now I'm going to share them (and some new ones) with you.
I learned to cook standing on a chair next to my Grandma's kitchen table
My love affair with food and cooking began in my grandma's kitchen and led to my career as a chef.
So if you have funny stories about cooking you'd like to share, please do. I'll share my stories with you and we'll take a walk down memory lane together. It'll be a blast!

DID YOU KNOW?..............................

Never re-tighten seals once out of the water bath. Doing so will break the seal you already have.

DID YOU KNOW?

When canning and using Fruit-Fresh, a cheaper alternative is to use Vit C tablets. 6000 mg to 1 gallon of water to soak your fruit in.

DID YOU KNOW

Place garlic cloves in the microwave for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off.

DID YOU KNOW?

Fresh eggs' shells are rough and chalky; old eggs are smooth and shiny.

DID YOU KNOW?

The best way to store fresh celery is to wrap it in aluminum foil and put it in the refrigerator--it will keep for weeks.

DID YOU KNOW?

Letting raw potatoes stand in cold water for at least half an hour before frying to improve the crispness of french-fried potatoes.

DID YOU KNOW?

Microwave garlic cloves for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off.

DID YOU KNOW?

* Cheese won't harden if you butter the exposed edges before storing. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW?

The best potatoes for chowder and soup recipes are round red potatoes, round white potatoes and Yukon golds. But russets are the best for baking because of their low moisture content.

DID YOU KNOW?

that Storing potatoes in the fridge converts the potato starch to sugar. And exposure to sunlight turns them green and makes them bitter. Russet or Yukon gold potatoes will yield the fluffiest mashed potatoes.

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OLDER THAN DIRT!

'We ate at a place called 'at home,'' 'Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

BREAD FOR THE NOVICE

Breathes there a wife with soul so dead; who to her husband has never said; "This is my own real, homemade bread."

For any of you who feel you can't tackle a bread you have to knead, but still want that "homemade" flavor of yeast, here's a recipe for you!

This is a recipe from the Hardinville, IL Christian Church cookbook that will give you the homemade taste you crave and if you want it any simpler than this, ya need to make reservations at a good restaurant LOL. What I like about the rolls is that you prepare the batter the evening before and then can make the rolls right before your meal. They do have a nice yeasty flavor and I would give them a "thumbs up" for that as well as for ease of preparation.

SPOON BREAD1 pkg. dry yeast ( not rapid rise)2 cups warm water (105' to 115')1/2 cup Land O Lakes butter or margarine, melted4 cups Maratha White self-rising flour1 egg, beaten lightly1/4 cup sugarDissolve the yeast in warm water; let stand for about 5 minutes.It will become bubbly, which is a sign your yeast is active. If it doesn't bubble, throw it away and get fresh yeast. ( I always check the date on yeast to make sure it's still good)

Combine yeast mixture, butter and flour in a large bowl. Stir in egg and sugar. Use an electric mixer rather than stirring by hand because you may have lumps of flour if you don't.The mixture will be a very soft batter. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Next day, spoon batter into greased muffin pans, filing about 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350' for 25 minutes. Yield: 14 to 16 rolls.

When I lived in Chicago back in the "50;s" my friend's family took me with them to a place called Johney'sPizzaria", a place I had never been to before. And when I, (a country bumpkin right off the farm) never having heard of any other kind of "pie" except those you ate for dessert, was asked what kind of "pie" I wanted, I promptly replied, "chocolate". To which peals of laughter erupted from the whole family.

It was then that I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.